Manage Tile Cache and AOI/MD Boundary and TPK

We have a power transmission network that we would like create a TPK for. This is so field crews can see some map data on mobile devices when they have no connectivity. We want to keep the file size as small as possible. So, we are thinking about buffering the lines 1/4 mile to 1/2 mile and using it as aoi, if we use an mxd as a input to the Manage Tile Cache Tool (I can see this if we want to overlay vector data on our imagery). Or updating the mosaic dataset boundary to the buffer if we go with only imagery.

So, we will end up with thin ribbons of data over a ~1000 sq miles. But the data area will only be ~10 sq miles or so.

We are wondering about the blank areas in the 1000 sq miles. Will tiles be generated for them?

I looked inside an exploded tile cache that was exported from a compact and it does look like it has the "extra" tiles. Will the compact cache have this as well? What about when we export the compact cache to a tpk? Will the tpk have the extra tiles?

Other suggestions for optimizing our cache size and build time? (I currently tend to use all my cores to make a compact cache and then export to a tpk.)

Suggest you use the 'Manage Tile Cache' Tool. This includes an 'Area of Interest' option. With this you can define polygons and only the data intersecting with the selected polygon will be included in the output. This same tool can be used to extract a Also if the input is a mosaic dataset then it will have a boundary and data will not be generated outside this boundary. Note I would suggest keeping the vector overlays separately and not burning into the imagery cache One reason for this is that if the source is imagery then it can use JPEG compression keeping the size smaller. If including vectors you will either get artifacts on the lines or increase the size (if PNG).

1) I used Manage Tile Cache with a boundary when I made the above cache. It clearly has tiles outside the boundary that are empty. Were they generated when the cache was exported to the old exploded formant?

2) We would love to keep the vector separate. But the target application for the product is limited. So, for now, if we want any vector data it will need to be rasterized into the tpk.